Press Release

NextFifty Initiative, an innovative grant-making nonprofit dedicated to improving the quality of life for people in the second 50 years of their life, today announced it has named Margaret Franckhauser, R.N., as its first CEO. Franckhauser will join NextFifty Initiative on January 1, 2017, and she will lead the newly created organization as it refines its strategic plan, establishes fundraising priorities and creates a strong infrastructure in preparation for accepting grant applications from across Colorado and the nation in 2017.

Franckhauser will join NextFifty Initiative from Central New Hampshire VNA & Hospice, where she has spent 19 years as CEO. For the past seven years Franckhauser has also served as a Trustee of The Endowment for Health (the last two years as Chair), a New Hampshire foundation working to improve the health and reduce the burden of illness for the people of New Hampshire – especially the vulnerable and underserved.

Prior to her role as CEO of Central New Hampshire VNA & Hospice, Franckhauser served as a nurse practitioner in medically underserved and rural communities in North Carolina and New Hampshire. She also has served on multiple boards, has been appointed to numerous national and state task forces and councils, and was named to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Leader Fellowship. She has earned advanced degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Maryland at Baltimore.

"I am thrilled to be selected to lead NextFifty Initiative, which is at the intersection of two of my most passionate areas of interest – aging and philanthropy," Franckhauser said. "I look forward to working with other experts in Colorado and across the nation on aging and the needs of seniors to develop, support and enhance programs that will have a positive and lasting impact."

NextFifty Initiative was created from the proceeds of InnovAge's $196 million sale to a private equity firm in 2016. The organization will seek, vet and fund game-changing breakthroughs to improve and sustain quality of life for people in the second 50 years of their life via grants and financial support to organizations committed to the elderly population and their caregivers. It will also provide stringent measures for all outcomes, educate relevant communities about proven initiatives and advocate for transformational change for seniors and those who care for them.

"We conducted a national search to find exactly the right combination of leadership, vision and execution, and we found the right person in Margaret Franckhauser," said Marco D. Chayet, an elder law attorney and chairman of the board of NextFifty Initiative. "Margaret's real-world experience as a registered nurse combined with her background leading a highly respected senior healthcare nonprofit gives her the expertise necessary to launch NextFifty Initiative. With her leadership, NextFifty Initiative will be a powerful engine for innovation that helps transforms aging, and its work will positively impact life for generations to come."

The need for NextFifty Initiative's work is clear. The population of Americans who are age 65 or older is expected to double to 98 million by 2060. Today, median incomes among the elderly have been dropping, and more than 10 percent live below the poverty line. Meanwhile, out-of-pocket expenditures on healthcare among the elderly have more than doubled in the last decade. And these are only some of the challenges seniors in our country face.

NextFifty Initiative has already assembled a strong board of directors, which includes Marco D. Chayet, an elder law attorney and managing partner at the law firm Chayet & Danzo; Parrish Boren, president of the architecture, engineering and construction consulting firm Marx|Okubu Associates; Joie Glenn, executive director of the New Mexico Association for Home and Hospice Care; Maureen Hanrahan, a Denver-based healthcare consultant; Jill Higham, director of development at Colorado State University's College of Agricultural Sciences; Greg Ibsen, CEO of the commercial janitorial company Summit Service Group; Randy McCall, vice president and corporate responsibility officer for the Rocky Mountain region at KeyBank; and Tim Owen, director of commercial operations at blood-based diagnostic test maker Biodesix.